Humility and Respect

In her early 20s, Sharnie had a boss who believed women belonged in the kitchen and bedroom. At the time, she felt that she somehow encouraged his attitude and that she should have known how to handle the situation.

Now, Sharnie has a lot of wisdom to offer on self-compassion, letting go of shame, and accepting other people for who they are, rather than judging them according to a label.

“New situations come up and we often don’t know how to handle them. Certainly not gracefully or tactfully.”

“We choose to dislike people based on those labels. Someone could choose to dislike me because I’m female. And they could choose to dislike my son because he’s male. And that’s got nothing to do with who we are.”

Sharnie believes it’s important to be responsible for your own actions. She chooses to live with respect and kindness for other people, while understanding that you can’t impose your own values onto others.

“I don’t like to see people get hurt. So the value is that I can live with myself knowing that I’m not trying to contribute to any of that. I’m not choosing to see people negatively without knowledge.”